OTTAWA, Aug. 8, 2014 /CNW/ - On August 4, a tailings breach occurred at
the Mount Polley mine in British Columbia, owned and operated by
Imperial Metals. This incident is an unfortunate and significant issue
that is being taken very seriously by the company, the Mining
Association of Canada (MAC) and all stakeholders involved.

Imperial Metals has apologized to the public for the breach of its
tailings pond. Imperial has recognized and publicly asserted its
responsibility to remedy the situation, and is working to stop the
problem, get to the root of why it happened, mitigate the effects and
prevent future failures. The company is cooperating fully with
communities, and local and provincial authorities. Fortunately, the
incident did not result in injuries, and the tailings from the Mount
Polley mine are non-acid generating, but the company does recognize
there has been a significant environmental impact that will have to be
addressed. Preliminary water tests released on August 7 show that the
water remains within drinking-quality guidelines and that impact to
aquatic life and fish is not expected. Further testing is being
undertaken by the provincial government.

"The mining industry in Canada operates on the basis of public
confidence in sound public policy, effective regulation and responsible
management practices by companies. The confidence of the public in what
we do and how we do it is essential. Incidents such as this are very
rare, but it is the goal of MAC members that they never occur, and we
have been working hard for many years to achieve this goal. Clearly, we
still have work to do," stated Pierre Gratton, MAC's President and CEO.

Imperial Metals has been a member of MAC for the past two years and is
in the early stages of implementing the Towards Sustainable Mining
(TSM) initiative, a major component of which includes commitments to
ensure the safe operation and management of tailings. In fact, one of
the main drivers behind the development of TSM in the late 1990s was to
prevent incidents such as this. Through MAC's tailings guides,
initially published in 1998 and considered the global standard for
tailings management, and through TSM, the industry has made steady
improvement in this area.

The last similar event occurred at a closed site in 1991 and did not
have any off-site impact. Every day, there are more than 200 mines
operating in Canada, and MAC members have invested great effort in
building a track record of the safe management of tailings facilities
over recent decades. MAC and its members, through MAC's Tailings
Working Group, comprising many of the best professionals in this field,
will review this incident to assess what can be learned and implemented
to further ensure these incidents do not occur.

About MAC

The Mining Association of Canada is the national organization for the
Canadian mining industry. Its members account for most of Canada's
production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds,
metallurgical coal, mined oil sands and industrial minerals and are
actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and
semi-fabrication. Please visit www.mining.ca.